Higher End DACs

@ufguy73 I stream both Tidal and Qobuz. My current DAC does not decode the second MQA ’unfold.’

I listen, daily, to a number of MQA tracks where Roon performs the first unfold... HOWEVER, I AM NOT picky in terms of preferring MQA coded over non-MQA files in Tidal  OR  where Tidal offers MQA and a higher resolution via the first unfold over a "lower resolution" file via Qobuz.

My answer, at the simplest level: nice to have but far from necessary. That, again, is from a daily listening perspective.

It is a total non-factor in terms of component choice as there are far more important considerations (for me).

This may serve as an analogy, though not a perfect one:

I’m car shopping. For me, it would be akin to rejecting a choice in a car because I’m looking for a specific tread pattern and that car’s stock tires don’t offer it.

@david_ten 

thanks for the real world check on format and usage - appreciate it!

@audiotroy 

Sorry, i missed one of your recent replies.  Thank you for your reminder about T+A intention for the MQA update.

just out of curiosity - have they definitively confirmed it is coming?  Another poster I think had provided an email reply from them that I thought made it sound more vague (I will have to look back and see).

also, a general question - are software updates always limited to the first MQA unfold only and if you want the subsequent full MQA unfolding it would require a hardware upgrade? Or does the ability of a software upgrade to give a full MQA compatibility depend on the DAC implementation?

Does T+A’s implementation allow for full MQA thru just a software upgrade?

Thanks for righting the ship folks. And +1 on the Star trek reference kren.

RF isolation is needed to determine DAC differences. That is, RF noise in signal, power or radiated thru free air affects how a DAC sounds. 
Regards xtreme servers ...well if the output is optical and the server is 100% RF isolated from the DAC, they sound the same as a $100 raspberry Pi. Exact same.
Im in the Toronto area and able to plainly demonstrate this.

@dmance,

Thanks for chiming in...some of us are well aware of the benefits of isolating RF noise from the streamer. It has been discussed in the following thread to an extent, 

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/network-switches

Feel free to add your feedback there or start a new thread. I think this very topic of noise isolation deserves a dedicated thread and we can possibly learn and educate ourselves from your experience.